BAN APPOINTS INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF UN BACKED CLIMATE BODY
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right)
with Rajendra K. Pachauri, IPCC Chairman
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the UN-backed panel tasked with preparing regular scientific reports on the impact of climate change announced that the body, which is facing growing attacks from global warming sceptics, will undergo an independent and comprehensive review, the UN News reported (10/3/10).
In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its Fourth Assessment Report, which found the warming of the climate is outpacing natural variability, driven largely by human activity. But its credibility has come into question after revelations that the landmark publication contained some mistakes, including over the rate of Himalayan glacier melt.
Although there were “a very small number of errors” in the 3,000-page Fourth Assessment Report,
“I have seen no credible evidence that challenges the main conclusions” of the publication, Secretary-General Ki- moon underscored to reporters.
“Let me be clear: the threat posed by climate change is real,” he said. “Nothing that has been alleged or revealed in the media recently alters the fundamental scientific consensus on climate change. Nor does it diminish the unique importance of the IPCC’s work.”
In fact, Mr Ban said, the science underpinning climate change continues to be strong, with evidence collected since 2007 showing that it is picking up pace. “The need for action is all the more urgent.” To this end, he stressed the necessity of transparency, accuracy and objectivity, as well as the importance of curtailing the possibility of any errors in the future.
IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, at the same time, acknowledged criticism of the Fourth Assessment Report, but said the publication’s findings remained “robust” and that its “major conclusions of that report are really beyond any reasonable doubt.” The IPCC is currently preparing to start work on the Fifth Assessment Report, scheduled to be finalised in 2014.
The InterAcademy Council (IAC), a scientific organisation bringing together experts from around the world, has been tasked with reviewing the IPCC’s processes and procedures to strengthen the quality of its reports.
The review will be led by IAC co-chairs Robbert Dijkgraaf, who heads the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, and Lu Yongxiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “It will be conducted completely independently of the United Nations,” Mr Ban said.
Mr Dijkgraaf said that the IAC seeks to “assure nations that they will receive sound, scientific advice” so that “governments and citizens alike can make informed decisions.”
Scientists will be selected to serve on a voluntary and unpaid basis to prepare a draft report on their findings, which will then undergo an intensive peer review by other scientists. “Only when the IAC board is satisfied” will the final report be issued, he said.
Characterising the task as “forward-looking,” Mr Dijkgraaf said that there are “no preconceived conclusions.” The IAC, he said, has been asked to look into issues such as data quality assurance and control; procedures for correcting errors; and analysing the IPCC’s communications strategies.
The UN will fund the endeavour, and it seeks to submit its final report to Mr Ban and the IPCC. It will also be transmitted to the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which set up the IPCC in 1988.
REPORT: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34036&Cr=climate+change&Cr1=
REGRET VERY SMALL ERRORS, BUT NOTHING TO CHALLENGE CONCLUSIONS
The IPCC's work has been used by policymakers around the world as the most authoritative, comprehensive source for assessing climate risk and the IPCC's conclusions are clear, Mr Ban told reporters. He was joined by Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Mr Ban said the earth's climate systems are warming above and beyond natural variability. Human activities are contributing significantly to that warming through the emission of greenhouse gases.
“Let me be clear: the threat posed by climate change is real. Nothing that has been alleged or revealed in the media recently alters the fundamental scientific consensus on climate change. Nor does it diminish the unique importance of the IPCC's work.
“Regrettably, there were a very small number of errors in the Fourth Assessment Report. Remember: this is a 3,000 page synthesis of complex scientific data. I have seen no credible evidence that challenges the main conclusions of that report.
“The scientific basis for climate action remains as strong as ever. Indeed, evidence collected since the 2007 report suggests climate change is accelerating. The need for action is all the more urgent.
“We need to act based on the best possible science. We need to ensure full transparency, accuracy and objectivity, and minimise the potential for any errors going forward. That is why I have initiated, in tandem with the chair of the IPCC, a comprehensive, independent review of the IPCC's procedures and processes.
“This review will be conducted by the InterAcademy Council (IAC), an international scientific organisation. It will be conducted completely independently of the United Nations.
“Of course, climate science is not static. New discoveries are being made that increase our overall understanding of how the climate is changing. We must be clear about what we know and also about where there is uncertainty. We must communicate transparently and debate intelligently. Too much is at stake. Climate change is harming our planet's systems.
People are increasingly at risk.
“How much risk, when and where? These are critical questions that scientists continue to grapple with. That is why it is imperative that we have the best possible science to inform climate policy. That is why we have established this independent review.”
CLIMATE CHANGE IS A FACT, SAYS CHINA
A deputy director of China's most powerful economic ministry has come out swinging against climate change denial, the ABC reported (11/3/10). Senior Chinese Government figures have described the view that climate change is not man-made as an "extreme" stance which is out of step with mainstream thought.
Xie Zhenhua, a deputy director at China's powerful economic ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission, said he believed that made-made climate change denial is, at best, a very marginal view.
REPORT: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/11/2842415.htm
UK MET OFFICE STUDY CONFIRMS HUMAN ACTIVITIES ARE CHANGING CLIMATE
A review from the UK Meteorological Office says it is becoming clearer that human activities are causing climate change, the BBC reported (5/3/10). It says the evidence is stronger now than when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change carried out its last assessment in 2007. The analysis, published in the Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Journal, has assessed 110 research papers on the subject.
It says the Earth is changing rapidly, probably because of greenhouse gases. In 2007 the IPCC's report concluded that there was "unequivocal" evidence that the Earth was warming and it was likely that it was due to burning of fossil fuels. Since then the evidence that human activities are responsible for a rise in temperatures has increased, according to this new assessment by Dr Peter Stott and colleagues at the UK Met Office.
The Met Office study comes at a time when some have questioned the entire basis of climate science following recent controversies over the handling of research findings by the IPCC and the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. Dr Stott denies that the study has been published as part of a fight back by the climate research community.
"We started writing this paper a year ago. I think it's important to communicate to people what the science is showing and that's why I'm talking about this paper."
FURTHER RESOURCES: WIREs website
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PLANS CARBON TAX
The European Commission is planning an EU-wide minimum tax on carbon as part of the EU's green energy agenda - but the UK opposes such a move, the BBC reported (5/3/10).
The minimum tax would apply to fuel, natural gas and coal.
The EU's new Taxation Commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, is working to revise the EU's existing Energy Taxation Directive, his spokeswoman said. Carbon taxes already exist in EU members Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In France the idea is being hotly debated.
ABC HEAD WANTS FAIR GO FOR SCEPTICS
ABC chairperson Maurice Newman, has again waded into the global warming debate, telling a collection of senior staff they had succumbed to ''groupthink'' in their reporting of climate change, the ABC reported (11/3/10).
In what is being read by ABC staff as a thinly veiled attack on them, Mr Newman said the media had accepted issues at face value and had suppressed the voices of climate sceptics.
His comments, prompted an angry response from senior journalist Jonathan Holmes.
It is not the first time that Mr Newman, who describes himself as a climate-change agnostic, has provoked controversy. Nearly three years ago the ABC board pressured the broadcaster to show a controversial British documentary questioning the science behind climate change.
REPORT: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/abc-head-wants-fair-go-for-sceptics-20100310- pze6.html
ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS
CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION LIST
UNity invites organisations and agencies to send in details of initiatives NOW operating in the Australian/Asian/Pacific region to be featured on a CLIMATE CHANGE LIST OF THINGS WORKING NOW. Please email brief summary (up to 50 words), links/contact details to: judycnnn@yahoo.com.au